Meals program ramps up delivery by volunteers
So does composer Steven Kapp Perry and Renita Revill, the director of the Miss Utah Pageant.
Middleton is the oldest volunteer in the local Meals-on-Wheels program, which is in a push to get more volunteer drivers, coordinator Liz Merrell said.
"Volunteering is a good idea," Middleton said. "It's worthwhile. I have a lot in common with the people I deliver to."
Some of them are younger than Middleton. He's been delivering for about two weeks, once a week, as a substitute driver.
"I'd do it more often if they'd let me," he said.
It's all part of a push toward voluntarism in the Meals-on-Wheels program in Utah, Wasatch and Summit counties by the Mountainland Association of Governments.
Starting in July the meals program began opening a new Utah County area each month to volunteer delivery drivers. In June and July, Merrell opened Lehi. In August she's working on American Fork and Orem.
No paid drivers will be let go, Merrell said, but in a year or so, when Meals-on-Wheels has established solid ground with volunteers, paid drivers may be replaced with unpaid drivers as they quit.
"I think it's safer than fast food," Merrell said. "They have constant supervision. They grow their own vegetables and make their own bread."
The noon meals must be delivered within four hours of being placed in the thermal bags or they must be thrown away in compliance with state health rules, she said. That happens rarely.
"I wouldn't want to be the delivery person who had to make that phone call that the senior would not be eating that day because they forgot," Merrell said.
The three-county area has 13 senior centers where volunteers pick up the meals. Seniors may also walk into most senior centers Monday through Friday and get a noon meal with a day's notice, except in Spanish Fork or Santaquin, where meals are cooked at the senior centers and not available every day.
In Utah County the suggested donation to eat at senior centers is $2, while the delivered meals are $2.25 in Utah County and $2.50 in Wasatch and Summit counties.
The three counties now have about 45,000 seniors, with 70,000 expected within 10 years, Merrell said. They are starting the volunteer program now to avoid a hike in taxes in years to come.
"We want to grow the program slowly so we don't have to ask for a tax increase," Merrell said.
Recent comments
Delivering Meals on Wheels with my children is a great way to teach…
Anonymous | Aug. 5, 2008 at 7:09 p.m.
Volunteering with Meals on Wheels is a wonderful experience. If…
Anonymous | Aug. 5, 2008 at 4:36 p.m.
Glad to hear it. The more volunteerism the better. The more closely…
Matthew Piccolo | Aug. 4, 2008 at 10:47 a.m.
